Snow Wolf
by Uudam
Summary: Elsa's powers and emotions reach a breaking point. She spontaneously turns into a wolf and kills the Weselton guards out of self-defense. Hans hunts down the terrified young queen. Can Anna save Elsa from her wolf form, while saving herself from a frozen fate? Hard T for brief graphic violence.
1. Transformation

**This is still canon movieverse, but with a wolf twist. It's a "what-if" story, if you will.**

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**Snow Wolf (1)**  
**Transformation**

Elsa broke into a run, leaving Marshmallow to fend off the men.

"No harm must come to the queen!" she heard Hans shout.

She turned and saw that some ignored his command. Elsa fled into her palace, mixed fear and anger propelling her up the stairs.

Her anger was justified. These men chose to invade her new home. Even worse, they chose to mean serious harm. She struggled to stay calm and controlled, desperately hoping that Marshmallow would be enough to chase them away. But some of the men were quite persistent, and managed to break into her castle.

Two men cornered her in the highest room. She recognized them from her coronation. They were bodyguards for the Duke of Weselton. Eyes filled with grim and silent determination, they slowly advanced holding their crossbows.

Elsa put up her hands to show she meant no harm. "Please, stay away!"

Her desperate pleading went unheard. A guard fired his arrow at her. She threw her hands up to her face, summoning a sheet of ice to stop the arrow. She gasped as the tip stopped an inch from her face.

'Did the Duke send them to kill me?' she thought with horror.

"Stay away!" she said more forcefully. Again, they didn't listen.

Now it was her turn. In a few rapid and successive moves, Elsa had one guard pinned to the wall and the other on the verge of falling to his death.

She heard footsteps as Hans and the rest entered the room. She didn't relent with her ice. Anger swelled in her like bile in her throat. Why? Why did it have to be like this? Even when she hid herself away from Arendelle, why did they still come to attack her? She felt like a cornered animal, hated and feared for her powers.

'It's not fair!' she wanted to scream. 'I wanted nothing more than to protect everyone, and this is what I get?'

"Queen Elsa!" Hans cried. "Don't be the monster they fear you are!"

At this, she stopped. She felt so paralyzed and torn. What should she do? Seeing her hesitate, the guard pinned to the wall lifted his crossbow and fired. All the anger and terror pent up inside made Elsa snap. Time seemed to slow down. She only felt a rush of incredible energy, a huge change in both her mind and body. Pure instinct and adrenaline, not human reason, seemed to compel her as she turned her head and caught the arrow. With her jaws.

Hans couldn't believe his eyes. The men were equally aghast. They just witnessed Elsa _transform into a white wolf_.

Elsa growled as she easily snapped the arrow in two with her teeth. Seeing all the men cornering her, Elsa's snow-white fur bristled and her lips curled back into a snarl. Blind rage and fear engulfed her. A flurry of snow whipped around her wolf body. The guard she had almost pushed over the edge rushed forward to attack her. Elsa whirled around. Only two things raced in her mind: Fight. Live.

She lunged and sank her sharp teeth into his throat. Warm thick blood gushed forth, filling her mouth with its iron taste. The guard instantly died. Elsa let his body crumple to the floor. Blood pooled underneath it to form a grisly snowflake shape. With a savage snarl, she made for the second man pinned by her ice.

"No, please-!"

Her jaws at his head cut off his plea. His skull gave way in a sickening crunch. He emitted a choked gurgle and slumped against the ice wall. The crossbow slipped from his hand. Hans and the rest of the men stepped away in fear. Elsa's wild eyes fell on them. She bared her blood-stained teeth and stalked forward.

"Monster!" one of them cried. "The queen is a monster!"

Elsa suddenly lost her berserk rage. She took several steps back and blinked in confusion.

'What just happened...?'

Then she saw the blood. The dead guards from Weselton.

'No! This wasn't supposed to happen!'

Elsa tried to cry out in her defense, but it only came out as a strangled whine. Like a white arrow she streaked past the startled men and away from the palace. She ran as fast as she could, running as if she always had four paws. Thick snow didn't get in the way of her strong legs. She paid no heed to the wind clawing at her fur. Bitterness self-loathing filled her heart.

'What have I done? What have I _become_?'

A wolf couldn't shed tears. Elsa threw back her head and howled. 'I'm a traitor for abandoning Arendelle, and I'm a murderer for killing those men.'

Deep into the area where the mountainside met the forest, Elsa finally slowed to a stop. Terrible guilt gnawed at her wounded conscience. She didn't mean to kill those guards. She couldn't stop the animalistic drive to do whatever it took to survive. Whatever she felt, that still didn't take away the cold hard fact that she had killed them. Tasting human blood on her tongue nearly made her vomit. Never before had Elsa felt so disgusted and terrified of herself.

She found an icy stream up ahead. Elsa dipped her muzzle into the water to wash the blood away. It was all over her paws too; she brushed them roughly against the snow. She ruffled her fur dry, then she peered into the water with disbelief. A pair of piercing golden eyes stared back at her. Gone were her blue eyes and pale blond hair. Her fur was completely white, as if touched by newly fallen snow.

Elsa was so confused. 'How did I do this? Is this the form in which my powers are fully realized?' She hung her head in shame, staring at her white paws. 'I'm sorry, Father...now I understand why you keep me telling to conceal, don't feel. I've failed you. I couldn't conceal it.'

She felt a pit of despair in her gut. It was the same terrible feeling when she told Anna she didn't know how to stop the eternal winter. 'Just like the ice and snow I can't melt, there's no way I can turn back into a human. I can only make problems, not get rid of them.' She clenched her jaw. 'I'll never be free from this curse. Am I going to be a wolf forever?'

Elsa looked back to the mountain. 'Hans will return to Arendelle and tell the Duke. They'll take up arms and come after me with a vengeance.'

She ought to let them kill her for what she had done. But with a pang of guilt, she realized she wanted to live. She could simply disappear into the wilderness, living the rest of her days as a lone wolf and a forgotten queen.

Elsa broke into a loping run deeper into the frost-ridden forest, feeling like she could never go back to anything at all.

'I'm not even the Snow Queen anymore. Now I'm the Snow Wolf.'

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**I welcome any comments/feedback. They make me very happy. :D**


	2. Pack Encounter

**Snow Wolf (2)****  
****Pack Encounter**

Elsa wasn't used to being so close to the ground. She pawed through slopes of heavy snow, her legs beginning to ache. Her pawprints became long, trailing streaks as she started to drag her legs through the snow. Always taught by her parents to keep her back straight and stand tall, she felt anything but a queen now. She was an animal, spurred by fear and guided by instinct.

Elsa finally stopped under the lengthy shade of a pine tree. Her tongue lolled out as she panted, not caring how dog-like she looked as mist plumed from her gaping mouth.

She spent time alone in her ice palace, but this was a different kind of loneliness. 'So this is what it means to be a lone wolf,' she thought sadly. "I must be born for this kind of life.'

As the sun climbed higher in the stark winter sky and the day went on, Elsa started to get hungry. To her alarm, she craved fresh meat. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this. She licked her lips and felt saliva pool in her mouth.

'I need food. I need meat...' Then Elsa shut her eyes and shook her head. 'No, think straight,' she berated herself. 'I have to find Anna. I managed to chase her and that man away with Marshmallow. But knowing her, she'd come right back looking for me again. I hope she's somehow back in Arendelle. Anna needs to get off this mountain before the cold kills her.' Elsa looked down at herself, a deep frown etched on her muzzle. 'I wish I didn't have to be stuck in this form. But if no one's going to tell Anna, who will?'

Suddenly Elsa heard voices. Still shaken by her skirmish at the ice castle, she darted out of sight into some bushes. She crouched low on her haunches, ready for fight or flight.

Her senses betrayed her. She heard voices with her ears, but picked up wolf scent with her nose. Elsa couldn't wrap her head around it. She would have to see for herself. She peeked amid the gaps made by crisscrossing branches and leaves.

She blinked hard. A wolf pack slowly made its way up the slope thick with snow. And the wolves talked! Was she imagining things? She heard words loud and clear among their growls and snarls. She counted seven; from the sound of it they seemed to be all male, no females. They sounded aggressive and constantly on edge, as if there was no place for softness or gentleness in their hard lives.

"Picked up any scent yet?" a wolf asked irritably.

"No, nothing," another replied. "Just a lot of ice in my nose."

"Damn this winter," the wolf heading the pack growled. "It has driven the prey out of our reach."

One of them chuckled darkly. "If we get truly desperate...we might just have to eat each other."

"D-don't say that! It's not funny!" a wolf exclaimed in fear. Elsa heard it as a whine.

Her mind raced as she considered options. She figured that as a wolf, she could hear other wolves speak, too. Maybe if she talked to them, they could understand her. And if they tried to attack her, she could always defend herself. She preferred that as a last resort. Her self-defense back at the ice palace had not gone well at all. Making up her mind, Elsa emerged out of hiding.

"Excuse me?" she tentatively asked.

The wolves pricked their ears and whirled, startled by her sudden presence. Some of them curled their lips back, revealing sharp yellowed teeth. They bristled with alarm and wariness.

The biggest one puffed its chest and took a pawstep forward. "Where did you come from?" it growled. "Were you listening the whole time?"

'They understand me.' She was relieved. "I'm sorry to-"

"You have no scent." The leader craned its neck forward to sniff the air. "That's strange...no wonder we didn't know you were here."

"A white wolf with no scent?" A small wolf with wiry legs shrank away, staring at her with wide yellow eyes. "It's a ghost, I tell you."

A gray wolf with scars turned to snap its jaws close to the small one's ear. "Superstition makes you weak, brother," it snarled. "That she-wolf is no ghost."

Elsa took the chance to introduce herself. She inclined her head, a human gesture. "I'm not a ghost," she assured them. "I mean you no harm. My name is Elsa."

The leader sized her up, as if to make sure she was indeed not a spectre or bad spirit out of some nightmare. "I'm Lars, the alpha." He gestured to the wolves flanking him. "These are Egil, Ingvar, Jorg, Tor and Ralf." He flicked his tail to the smallest wolf behind them all, the one who called her a ghost. "And this is Knut, the omega."

Elsa's mind spun. She wasn't sure she could remember all those names. They sounded too much like the growls and snarls they made. Perhaps she could remember by scent; she noticed that she could pick up each of their distinct odors. She wondered why she herself had no scent.

'Maybe it's because I'm not a normal wolf…or I'm touched by special powers…"

She stared back at the pack, only clearly remembering the leader's name in her head. It didn't really matter; she'd ask her question and be on her way, never to see this pack again.

Most of the wolves regarded her with skepticism and confusion, with flattened ears and bodies crouched low on the ground.

Elsa began to say, "Please, I need your help-"

"Why should we help a packless wolf like you?" Jorg asked. "We have a hard enough time looking for food."

The scarred wolf, probably Ingvar, spoke next. "Surely you know the law as well as us. The mountains have no mercy for the weak. The lone wolf dies, while the pack survives."

"It's none of our concern, nor our fault, if you can't find food and die within days," Jorg said.

Elsa shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant-"

"I don't see harm in helping her," Egil said. "I was once a loner myself."

Some wolves objected, others sided with Egil. They began to argue amongst themselves, with Lars snarling and snapping his teeth in an attempt to quell the bickering.

Elsa grew tired of being interrupted. "Listen! My question is not about food!" her cry came out more as a snarl.

The pack suddenly ceased fighting, rapt with shock once more.

A startling thought came Elsa's mind. 'Do they sense my power?' She heard of animals having a sixth sense. Being attuned to the supernatural. Elsa really didn't want to get into a fight and use her powers for harm again. Even against a pack of wolves.

Taking body language into account, Elsa consciously shifted her ears back and lowered her head, lower than the alpha's height but not low enough to grovel in the snow like the omega. Royal blood compelled Elsa to retain at least some of her dignity. "I'm looking for a human. By any chance, have you seen a young woman?" She tried to remember what Anna wore. "She has a magenta cloak and cap, with blue mittens and strawberry-blonde hair in twin braids."

It suddenly occurred to her that most of them were terms wolves wouldn't be familiar with.

"What are mittens?" Knut licked its chops. "Kittens and mutton put together? That sounds delicious."

"You idiot!" Ingvar growled. "She's talking about something humans wear. Do humans wear kittens and mutton? No!"

"But they do wear coats of animal skin," Egil said quietly. "In my years as a loner, before I joined this pack, I've seen them with my own eyes. It was horrible."

Lars finally answered Elsa's question. "A female human? No. You're out of luck. Why would any human in its right mind be out in this freak winter?"

"Come to think of it, didn't we chase a pair of humans a few days ago?" Tor asked.

Jorg pulled his lips back in a grimace. "How could I forget? One of them almost burned all my chest fur off. The savages."

Elsa bit back a gasp. She feigned curiosity, her ears perked with interest. "Tell me more about this pair of humans."

The wolves were more than happy to share their story. Pushed to the brink of starvation, they scented reindeer one night and had dashed in mad pursuit after it. The reindeer happened to be pulling a sled with a pair of humans. Jorg launched into a full account of how a female human had the nerve to set something on fire and hurl it right at him.

'Sounds like Anna, all right,' Elsa thought. 'I have no doubt now. This pack must be referring to her and that man.'

"How did you lose them?" she asked.

The wolves visibly deflated then, as if ashamed to admit their defeat.

"They managed to jump across a gap between 2 cliffs," Ralf growled. "It was too wide; we couldn't follow. We went on with empty stomachs for the rest of that night, until we managed to catch a few mangy rabbits."

"It feels like moons ago when we last ate those," Knut said bitterly.

Lars snorted. "Complaining won't get us anywhere. Let's move on."

"Wait!" Elsa cried. "Let's strike a deal. Help me find the humans, and I'll help you hunt." She was painfully aware that she was hungry just like them.

"She makes a reasonable offer," Rolf said.

"Lars makes the decision," Ingvar replied.

The alpha wolf tilted his head as he eyed her questioningly. "Why is it so important that you find these humans?"

Elsa struggled to come up with an answer. Should she tell the truth? Or lie? Should she tell them that she wasn't really a wolf, only a human cursed to wield ice and prowl on 4 legs?

"I...I have my reasons," Elsa finally said. "What does the need of a loner matter to an alpha like you?"

To her surprise, her answer seemed to strike a chord in the wolf leader.

"You have a point," Lars said as he looked away dismissively. "What you do is your own business, not ours. I was just curious, that's all."

'Must be some facet of wolf culture,' Elsa concluded. Were they creatures that harbored secrets? Preferred to keep to themselves? It seemed to be that way. Again, Elsa wondered if all along she was truly meant for this kind of life.

"Why don't we just head down to that human den?" Ingvar suddenly asked. "There's plenty of viable prey there. The winter has weakened them. And there's so many of them trapped in 1 place..."

Elsa realized with horror that by "human den," Ingvar meant Arendelle.

"No! That's a terrible idea!" She felt flustered as all eyes were on her. To justify her outburst she quickly stammered, "Trust me, you don't want to try it. I've tasted human before. It's disgusting." What really frightened Elsa was that she told the truth. How could she forget the way those men had died under her jaws? She suppressed a shudder.

The pack seemed to regard her with fear again, maybe even with a bit of reverence.

Lars swished his tail. "You heard her, then. There are many reasons why wolves don't hunt humans. Honor is one. Bad taste is another. I expected better of you, Ingvar." His amber gaze then shifted to Elsa, and it seemed to penetrate her. "You must've been truly desperate to stoop that low."

Elsa's fur prickled with hot shame at that. 'You have no idea. I was scared and trapped...I made bad choices, and now I must pay for the consequences.'

Tor scuffed a forepaw in the snow impatiently. "What are we waiting for? Let's go hunting before our bellies start howling."

'The sooner we can find food, the sooner we'll quench our hunger and find Anna.' With this determined thought, Elsa turned to follow the pack.

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**I apologize for taking forever to update. I hope you liked it so far!**

**In a Frozen early chapter book called "Anna's Icy Adventures," there was a sketch of seven wolves. I used that as a basis for the seven wolves I named in this fic.****The story behind this is kinda funny, actually. An elderly Barnes and Noble cashier gave me a strange look. Here I was, this college-aged student buying a kiddie Frozen book. I was like "Don't judge me, sir. I'm just buying it for the art." Luckily a couple of medical reference manuals for school, A Dance With Dragons, and a digital art magazine accompanying my purchase was enough to convince him. I'll keep using this excuse to buy the rest of the Frozen picture books. :3**


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